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Your Team Loves Mondays (...RIGHT?) by Kristin A. Sherry is a guide and a workbook on learning managerial skills. Every manager, executive, and want-to-be manager will recognize themselves somewhere in Sherry’s book. The book distills the many problems and managerial styles that keep even the most talented teams from realizing their full potential.
It is a compelling and incisive guide on the skills that one needs to bring to the table to successfully build and manage a workplace team. It is written in clear and easy to read prose that quickly provides solutions to many managerial issues.
Sherry reveals dysfunctions that go to the very heart of why teams--even the best ones--often struggle. She outlines powerful models and actionable steps that can be used to overcome these common hurdles and build cohesive and effective teams.
Many of the concepts talked about in Your Team Loves Mondays (...RIGHT?) can be applied to anyone's life. It is more than just a book for those striving to be better managers; it is also a general self-improvement book whose concepts can benefit just about anyone trying to better their communications skills and overall work ethics.
Sherry’s book has a quote in it that reads, “I feel that treating people as autonomous and intelligent promotes a sense of self-efficacy that will help ensure better performance. However, micromanaging fosters bitterness and resentment.” This statement is a fundamental tenant in getting the best out of team members. If they aren’t challenged and allowed to think for themselves, then creativity is being stifled.
One section of her book that I found most interesting and relevant to managerial skills is the following list. It is a list of negative traits and behaviors of poor leadership and it struck me because I know a "manager???" who exhibits every one of these flaws. Unfortunately, he is also a significant stockholder in the company, which, under his leadership, has become a shadow of its old self.
1. Unable to adapt to differences – Has trouble working with or adapting to new bosses, strategies, plans, or programs
2. Overly ambitious – Excessively focused on self and upward career movement, sometimes at the expense of others
3. Arrogance – Always thinks he/she has the right answers, dismisses input of others, can be cold, makes others feel inferior, keeps distance between him/herself and others
4. Betrays trust – Says one thing and means or does another, is unpredictable or inconsistent, fails to follow through on commitments
5. Lack of composure – Handles stress poorly, gets emotional when things don’t go as planned, hostile or sarcastic, makes poor or snap decisions under pressure, performance tanks when things get tough
6. Defensiveness – Not open to criticism, denies mistakes and faults, kills the messenger, blames others, doesn’t listen to negative feedback, doesn’t share personal limitations with others
7. Insensitive to others – Intimidating style, makes others feel bad, doesn’t care or think about how he/she affects others, doesn’t follow interpersonal cues, doesn’t care or ask about others’ needs
8. Overmanaging – Meddles, doesn’t empower others, doesn’t develop direct reports well, poor delegator, doesn’t get the most out of people
Sherry has written a compelling reference book with a deceptively simple yet powerful message for all those who strive to be exceptional team leaders. She touches on subjects such as sharing the spotlight with the team, striving to make work fun, being specific in praise, instructions, and criticisms and how to ensure team members can maintain their dignity when terminated. One point is crystal clear you need to change yourself before trying to change somebody else.
Your Team Loves Mondays (...RIGHT?) has the potential to change the way you think, behave, lead, and live your life, professionally and even personally. By leveraging the insights that Sherry details in her book for your organization, they can lead you to levels of excellence, you probably never considered attainable. Her book asks what could you do differently, which might make your business life better and you a lot happier? Sherry’s book provides a comprehensive guide to create and manage the most effective teams that result in inspired employees, esprit de corps, improved productivity, and ultimately a more valuable underlying business.
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